Roots are an important organ of higher plants. Their main functions are anchoring of the plant in the soil and uptake of water and nutrients (N-nutrition, minerals, etc.). Thus, root growth has a direct or indirect influence on growth and yield of aerial organs, particularly under conditions of nutrient limitation. Roots are also relevant for the production of secondary plant products, such as defense compounds and plant hormones.
Roots are also storage organs in a number of important staple crops. Sugar beet is the most important plant for sugar production in Europe (260 Mill t/year; 38% of world production). Manioc (cassaya), yams and sweet potato (batate) are important starch producers (app. 150 Mill t/year each). Their content in starch can be twice as high as that of potato. Roots are also the relevant organ for consumption in a number of vegetables (e.g. carrots, radish), herbs (e.g. ginger, kukuma) and medicinal plants (e.g. ginseng). In addition, some of the secondary plant products found in roots are of economic importance for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. An example is yams, which contain basic molecules for the synthesis of steroid hormones. Another example is shikonin, which is produced by the roots of Lithospermum erythrorhizon in hairy root cultures. Shikonin is used for its anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour and wound-healing properties.
Moreover, improved root growth of crop plants will also enhance competitiveness with weedy plants and will improve growth in arid areas, by increasing water accessibility and uptake.
Improved root growth is also relevant for ecological purposes, such as bioremediation and prevention/arrest of soil erosion.
Root architecture is an area that has remained largely unexplored through classical breeding, because of difficulties with assessing this trait in the field. Thus, biotechnology could have significant impact on the improvement of this trait, because it does not rely on large-scale screenings in the field. Rather, biotechnological approaches require a basic understanding of the molecular components that determine a specific characteristic of the plant. Today, this knowledge is only fragmentary, and as a consequence, biotechnology was so far unable to realize a break-through in this area.
A well-established regulator of root growth is auxin. Application of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) to growing plants stimulates lateral root development and lateral root elongation (Torrey, Am J Bot 37: 257–264, 1950; Blakely et al., Bot Gaz 143: 341–352, 1982; Muday and Haworth, Plant Physiol Biochem 32: 193–203, 1994). Roots exposed to a range of concentrations of IAA initiated increasing numbers of lateral roots (Kerk et al., Plant Physiol, 122: 925–932, 2000). Furthermore, when roots that had produced laterals in response to a particular concentration of exogenous auxin were subsequently exposed to a higher concentration of IAA, numerous supernumerary lateral roots spaced between existing ones were formed (Kerk et al., Plant Physiol, 122: 925–932, 2000). Conversely, growth of roots on agar containing auxin-transport inhibitors, including NPA, decreases the number of lateral roots (Muday and Haworth, Plant Physiol Biochem 32: 193–203, 1994).
Arabidopsis mutants containing Increased levels of endogenous IAA have been isolated (Boerjan et al., Plant Cell 7: 1405–141, 1995; Celenza et al., Gene Dev 9: 2131–2142, 1995; King et al., Plant Cell 7: 2023–2037, 1995; Lehman et al., Cell 85: 183–194, 1996). They are now known to be alleles of a single locus located on chromosome 2. These mutant seedlings have excess adventitious and lateral roots, which is in accordance with the above-described effects of external auxin application.
The stimulatory effect of auxins on adventitious and lateral root formation suggests that overproduction of auxins in transgenic plants is a valid strategy for increasing root growth. Yet, it is also questionable whether this would yield a commercial product with improved characteristics. Apart from its stimulatory effect on adventitious and lateral root formation, auxin overproduction triggers other effects, such as reduction in leaf number, abnormal leaf morphology (narrow, curled leaves), aborted inflorescences, increased apical dominance, adventitios root formation on the stem, most of which are undesirable from an agronomic perspective (Klee et al., Genes Devel 1: 8696, 1987; Kares et al., Plant Mol Biol 15: 225–236, 1990). Therefore, the major problem with approaches that rely on increased auxin synthesis is a problem of containment, namely to confine the effects of auxin to the root. This problem of containment is not likely overcome by using tissue-specific promoters: auxins are transported in the plant and their action is consequently not confined to the site of synthesis. Another issue is whether auxins will always enhance the total root biomass. For agar-grown plants, it has been noticed that increasing concentrations progressively stimulated lateral root formation but concurrently inhibited the outgrowth of these roots (Kerk et al., Plant Physiol, 122: 925932, 2000).
The above-mentioned problems related to containment of auxin effects and to maintenance of root outgrowth are solved by the embodiments in the patent claim.